Sorta kinda hunt

Dani

Dani

Well-known member
Gold Sponsor
Belle, Reggie and I went out to upland hunt. First time this season I have been out here so I did more driving around than normal just checking the conditions. We moved quail, woodcock. LOTS of doves (didn't know if they were legal), woodducks, teal and snipe. Emphasis on moved. Not shot. But it was a fun day watching Reggie learn to hunt.

I really need to make a coffin blind to use in places like this

IMG_1697.jpeg

I took Reggie here for an evening sit for his first duck hunt. A pretty informal duck hunt. No decoys because I didn't have any with me. Plus no waders....so I had wet feet. But heck it was about 75 degrees so not awful. Super shallow water so gators easy to see in this area. The teal really like this spot, though there weren't many. No ducks flew by but Reggie got his first taste of duck hunting

IMG_1698.jpeg

He also got to smell his first woodcock today. Sadly, it got up long before he got there and i was not in range. But he sure loved the spot that bird was in.

Not a bad day at all with the dogs in the woods. Belle doesn't take sitting in the truck for her turn to run as well as Reggie does. But maybe Reggie just doesn't know better.
 
Reggie is a nice looking young lad.
Glad you got out with the dogs for some fresh air.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Ps I actually got out after pheasants a couple days ago. Birds ran like crazy, I shot poorly, finally connected right before sunset on a perfectly worked rooster, Deuce was happy (that's his happy face).
1000002935.jpg
 
Last edited:
Dani, your sorta hunts beats anything I’ve done in 4 years! Nice looking freshwater marsh.
Tim, I like Dueces happy face!
 
Dani,
Your sorta hunt sounds similar to my goose hunts from the dike. Gun has never been fired yet, but I witnessed a lot of ducks (closed) and geese. They just prefer the two corn fields on either side of me. The other day, in the last 10 minutes before sunset, I must have watched around 5 hundred ducks and 3 hundred geese land about 350 yards away. Flock after flock swirling in the air looking for a place to land.
 
Carl said:
Dave, no access the corn fields?
Click to expand...
I may explore that option next year. The birds have also moved north, further away from where I am able to set up. Tracking and predicting field movement is an art in itself and takes constant monitoring to stay on top of the birds.
Most years I shoot enough geese from the water and only hunt my friends pond to thin out any geese which have taken the pond for their home.
 
Dani, we've had the same thought about coffin blinds in recent days. Salt marsh spot that is ringed with thick woods and just teeming with ducks. Two hunts in there in the last week have resulted in a total of three black ducks--which is not terrible, but we are working hard to get few of the hundreds if not thousands of ducks to at least make a close pass on our decoys. Best theory is that the ducks are wised up now and just won't land near the trees we use as natural blinds. Only landing out in the open marsh--all low spartina patens--which has nowhere to hide. The best option would be to grass up my sculling boat and snuggle up in a creek looking like part of the marsh, but it's a 5 mile run to the spot, which would be over an hour if my little 3.5 outboard was running, and even longer to row. So we're looking at layout or coffin blinds for next year.
 
Nice Tim!!! Glad you got out with Deuce!

Dave....that situation would be maddening to me....drive me crazy. I know I would just lay there HOPING for a bird to fly by but it would be as maddening as watching a turkey strut 100 yards away all dang morning.

Jeff, the challenge will be for me having a blind that the dog can be in also. So, I guess a coffin blind for him too. I've never really paid much attention to how folk hunt with dogs in those situations so I'll have to do some research.
 
Well, we went out the day after Christmas (the WMA isn't open every day of the week) and had a good day. No ducks were seen this time, but lordy they should have been there. The weather was perfect for it...grey, dreary, misty, little bit of a wind.

i-pCLVLVj-XL.jpg


Belle had a great day finding woodcock in little spots like this

i-xdFKMbW-XL.jpg



Reggie got worked a lot on "get in here" and one of those spots produced his first bunny. He is learning to hunt though doesn't seem to really quite get yet the hunting thing. That will come with exposure to real birds. I threw the woodcock for him a few times to play the dead bird game. He is really learning to love that game. I let the dogs run together a little bit when we first get to the management area. Mostly to blow off a little steam. Then Reggie gets his time to hunt and Belle gets her time to hunt.

Reggie was less than thrilled about holding his first bunny. I think he cursed the picture and that is why it is so awful.

i-trrJhLV-XL.jpg


I called it a day a bit early but I was a happy girl, heading home with two tired dogs and some tasty critters

i-X9HLQgX-XL.jpg


I'm looking forward to trying the rabbit in a recipe that I've been eyeing for a while now.
 
Nice!
I really should eat more rabbits. They taste like what chicken wishes it tasted like.
 
TimJ said:
Nice!
I really should eat more rabbits. They taste like what chicken wishes it tasted like.
Click to expand...
Amen to that!!!!! I love me some rabbit. Just hate cleaning mammals...so I don't shoot em often.
 
Dani said:
Belle, Reggie and I went out to upland hunt. First time this season I have been out here so I did more driving around than normal just checking the conditions. We moved quail, woodcock. LOTS of doves (didn't know if they were legal), woodducks, teal and snipe. Emphasis on moved. Not shot. But it was a fun day watching Reggie learn to hunt.

I really need to make a coffin blind to use in places like this

View attachment 53489

I took Reggie here for an evening sit for his first duck hunt. A pretty informal duck hunt. No decoys because I didn't have any with me. Plus no waders....so I had wet feet. But heck it was about 75 degrees so not awful. Super shallow water so gators easy to see in this area. The teal really like this spot, though there weren't many. No ducks flew by but Reggie got his first taste of duck hunting

View attachment 53490

He also got to smell his first woodcock today. Sadly, it got up long before he got there and i was not in range. But he sure loved the spot that bird was in.

Not a bad day at all with the dogs in the woods. Belle doesn't take sitting in the truck for her turn to run as well as Reggie does. But maybe Reggie just doesn't know better.
Click to expand...
That sounds like my kind of day! Just being outside whether you bag anything or not. is the best time spent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top